Dame Wendy Hall appointed to Dstl Board

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of the Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences, has been appointed to the Board of Dstl, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

Dame Wendy is one of two new non-executive members appointed to the Board of Dstl, which is the largest scientific organisation within government, with around 3500 scientists, technologists and engineers at its three main sites: Porton Down, Portsdown West, and Fort Halstead. Dstl's annual turnover of around £550M is largely spent in industry and academia, with the aim of maximizing the impact of science and technology for the defence and security of the UK.

“I am delighted to be taking up this position on the Dstl Board," said Dame Wendy, "and, having worked with Dstl before, I am looking forward to furthering my relationship with the organisation’s science and technology community."

Dame Wendy has held many leadership roles in addition to her academic research in computer science, in the development of the World Wide Web and, more recently, in establishing and developing the new discipline of Web Science. She was President of the British Computer Society; the first non-North American to lead the Association of Computing Machinery, the world's largest organisation for computer professionals; a member of the Prime Ministers Council for Science and Technology; Senior Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering; and a member of the Research Council of the European Research Council. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2009.

The other new non-executive Board Member of Dstl is Dr David Grant, Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University.

For further information on this news story contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.